See the promised land

When this trip is complete, it will take a few days to put the pictures in order, and a few more days to put the experiences in the proper chronological order.  For the sake of geographical displacements, we moved today a bit back in time, from that of Jesus and the events during his life (in the early part of the first century AD) to about the ninth century BC and the faith story of Moses.

The Book of Exodus recounts Moses having been commanded by God to look out upon the promised land.  From there, he was told to take the people of Israel into the promised land where they would live.  Fast forward to today, and this little traveling band made our way to the place where Moses is believed to have stood while looking out upon the promised land ... but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Departing from the hotel in Jerusalem, we made our way to the Jordanian border, at the famous crossing of the Alenby Bridge.  Thankfully we had been warned that crossing the border here is not quite like crossing the Canada-USA border.  There's a process to this crossing, and bystanders, innocent or otherwise, must abide if they hope to make their way to the promised land and back.  So it was that we found ourselves waiting, but admitedly not for too long, before we completed the crossing.  In all, the process took just over an hour, which isn't at all that bad for a group of this size.

We bid farewell to our Israeli guide and bus driver, and said hello to their Jordanian counterparts.  By the time we left the passport control plaza on the Jordanian side of the border, we had also inherited a border security guard who accompanied us to Madaba and beyond.  As it turns out, today was a rather busy day in Madaba, thanks to the fact that the annual Haj is now complete, and faithful Muslims, who are in the majority in Jordan, are on their way back home.  Beginning on Tuesday of this week, there will be a festival, and preparations are in full swing.

In Madaba, we visited St. George's Greek Orthodox church (Christians count for a mere 2% of the population in Jordan), and then continued to Mount Nebo, the site of Moses famous conversation with God.  Pope John Paul II visited Mount Nebo in 2000, and there is evidence still today of that significant occurrence.  In addition, the church at the top of the mount, cared for by Francisican Friars, is under restoration, so the originals of the mosaic floors are inaccessible to visitors at the moment.  Thankfully, they've provided a series of pictures so we can see what they are supposed to look like.

A stop at one of the local mosaic stores allowed us to see craftsmen and their apprentices at work.  We also had a chance to see some of the finished products, and I believe that at least some of my fellow pilgrims will be carting some of the mosaic hardware home with them.

Visits to this holy site complete, we then set our sites on the city of Aman.  By the time we arrived though, the sun had already set, so it was difficult to complete the planned tour of the city.  This had to be postponed to early tomorrow morning.  I'll be sure to write about that, and about our visit to Petra when I'm back online.